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J.HE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 

LA  JOLLA.  CALIFORNIA 

THE 


TR 


OP   THB 


LEADEN  STATUARY; 


OR, 


A  CURIOUS  CHAPTER  IN  ECONOMIC  HISTORY. 


DAVID    A. 


Eeprinted  from  The  New   York  World  of  May  llth,  1874. 


NEW     YORK 

1874. 


"A  story  as  amusing  as  a  novel  is  scarcely  what  we  are 
accustomed  to  expect  from  the  sedate  pen  of  our  excellent  econ- 
omist, Mr.  DAVID  A.  WELLS.  But  that  is  precisely  what  we 
are  indebted  to  him  for  this  morning,  as  the  brightest  of  our 
fairest  readers  will  admit,  who  hate  figures,  skip  statistics  and 
would  disclaim  the  ballot  if  it  involved  learning  economics. 
Mr.  WELLS  has  dug  up  and  relates  for  us  the  True  Story  of  the 
Leaden  Statuary.  Its  moral  draws  itself,  as  in  the  case  of  all 
good  and  well  told  stories." — New  York  World,  May  llth,  1874. 


L- 
\M 

A  CURIOUS  CHAPTER  IN  ECONOMIC  HISTORY. 


THERE  is  an  amusing  old  story  told  of  the  magistrates  of  a 
certain  country  town  in  France,  who,  before  the  days  of  street 
lamps  and  gas,  and  as  a  better  security  against  the  unlawful 
acts  of  "  vagrom  men,"  passed  an  ordinance  that  "no  citizen 
should  walk  out  after  dark  without  a  lantern,"  and  that  dis- 
obedience of  the  law  should  entail  a  heavy  penalty.  The 
watch,  vigilant  in  the  performance  of  duty,  accordingly  arrested, 
the  first  night  after  the  law  took  effect,  a  well  known  and  estima- 
ble individual,  but  of  waggish  propensities,  and  hauled  him  up 
before  the  local  Dogberry  on  charge  of  having  broken  the  statute. 
The  defendant,  however,  on  being  asked  why  punishment  should 
not  be  inflicted  upon  him,  averred  that  he  had  committed  no 
offerice,  and,  in  support  of  his  plea,  produced  a  lantern.  It  be- 
ing rejoined  that  the  lantern  had  no  candle,  he  next  maintained 
that  the  law  did  not  require  that  the  lantern  should  contain 
any  candle ;  and  the  statute  being  examined  and  the  defence 
found  valid,  the  arrested  party  was  dismissed  and  the  law 
so  amended  as  to  read,  "  that  no  citizen  should  hereafter 
walk  out  after  dark,  without  a  lantern  and  a  candle."  The 
next  night  the  same  person  being  found  walking  in  darkness 
was  again  arrested  and  arraigned,  but  again  maintained  that 
he  had  committed  no  offence ;  and,  in  proof  thereof,  produced  a 
lantern  and  showed  that  it  contained  a  candle.  "  But  the  can- 
dle," said  Dogberry,  "  is  not  lighted."  "  And  the  law,"  rejoined 
the  wag,  "  does  not  require  that  it  should  be;"  and  this  inter- 
pretation being  found  correct,  the  accused  was  once  more  dis- 
charged and  the  statute  further  amended  so  as  to  read. 
"  that  110  citizen  should  hereafter  walk  out  after  dark  without 
a  lantern  and  a  candle  in  it,  and  that  the  candle  should  be 
lighted." 

The  next  night  the  same  incorrigible  and  troublesome  person 
was  again  brought  up  before  the  Court,  and  this  time  both  watch 
and  magistrate  thought  they  had  a  sure  thing  of  it  j  for,  to  all 
appearances,  he  had  not  on  this  occasion  even  made  a  pretence 


of  complying  with  the  law.  But  the  triumph  of  the  officials 
was  of  brief  duration,  for,  to  their  utter  disgust  and  amazement, 
the  accused  drew  from  his  capacious  coat  pocket  a  dark  lantern, 
and  showed  that  it  not  only  contained  a  candle,  but  that  the 
candle  was  lighted  and  burning.  Warned  by  this  threefold  ex- 
perience, the  statute  was  for  a  third  time  amended,  and  this 
time  so  fully  and  clearly  that  no  further  practical  jokes  were 
attempted,  and  the  majesty  of  the  law  remained  unassailed. 

As  thus  told  the  above  story  is  manifestly  a  broad  burlesque, 
even  in  its  application  to  stupid  French  "country  officials," 
and  without  further  foundation  than  the  imagination  of  its 
author.  But  it  is  nevertheless  a  most  curious  and  amusing  cir- 
cumstance that  it  has  been  reserved  to  the  United  States  to 
furnish  out  of  the  history  of  its  fiscal  legislation  a  record  of 
actual  experience  which,  in  many  respects,  is  the  exact  and 
truthful  counterpart  of  the  French  burlesque  ;  and,  as  the  in- 
cidents involved  have  more  than  once  (but  always  incorrectly) 
been  alluded  to  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  may  be  found  per- 
tinent to  prospective  legislation  and  debate  in  respect  to  cus- 
tom house  reforms  and  irregularities,  it  is  proposed  to  now  em- 
body them  for  the  first  time,  and,  as  a  contribution  to  economic 
literature,  in  the  form  of  a  correct  and  complete  narration. 

Between  the  years  1816  and  1828,  encouraged  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  a  low  duty  on  imported  metallic  lead,  the  manufacture  of 
white  lead  as  a  basis  for  paints  came  into  existence  in  the 
United  States  and  developed  with  great  rapidity,  the  principal 
seats  of  the  business  being  the  cities  of  Xew  York,  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore.  But  about  the  years  1826-28  the  discovery 
of  the  lead  mines  at  Galena,  111.,  became  generally  known,  and 
as  the  first  reports  were  to  the  effect  that  the  deposits 
were  of  such  unparalleled  richness,  purity,  magnitude  and 
easy  accessibility  as  to  make  it  only  a  question  of  time 
when  the  whole  world,  from  sheer  inability  to  compete,  became 
wholly  dependent  for  its  supplies  of  lead  on  this  one  locality, 
it  was  at  once  considered  desirable  by  many  people  to  establish, 
so  far  as  fiscal  legislation  could  do  it,  a  most  extraordinary 
economic  principle,  and  one  which  from  that  day  to  this  has 
proved  popular  in  all  our  tariff  enactments ;  and  this  was 
to  make  the  discovery  or  recognition  of  the  existence  of  any 
great  natural  advantages — either  in  the  way  of  mines,  soils, 


climatic  advantages,  forests,  means  of  intercommunication  or 
national  characteristics — the  immediate  occasion  for  cursing  the 
country  by  the  creation  and  imposition  of  some  new  tax,  thereby 
making  dear  what  was  before  cheap,  and  endeavoring  to  work 
up  to  a  state  of  abundance  through  conditions  of  scarcity 
artificially  created  and  unnecessarily  perpetuated.  In  this  par- 
ticular instance  the  principle  was  exemplified  by  raising  the 
duty  on  lead  imported  in  pigs  and  bars  from  one  cent  a  pound 
to  three  cents ;  and  to  this  extent  increasing  to  the  consumer 
the  price  of  the  raw  material,  whether  of  foreign  or  domestic 
origin,  and  of  all  manufactured  products  in  which  lead  entered 
as  the  principal  constituent.  As  the  duty  was  not  at  the  same 
time  correspondingly  advanced  on  the  import  of  white  lead,  and 
as  the  lead  mining  interests  of  Galena  were  not  prepared  to 
supply  at  any  price  the  immediate  demand  thus  artificially 
created  for  their  products  in  the  domestic  market,  the  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  of  white  lead  all  at  once  found  their  business 
threatened  with  utter  destruction ;  and,  with  intellects  preter- 
naturally  sharpened  by  a  prospective  loss  of  a  large  invested 
capital,  they  looked  shrewdly  about  to  see  in  what  manner  they 
could  save  and  protect  themselves. 

And  putting  on  their  spectacles,  and  scrutinizing  carefully  the 
entire  tariff,  as  modified  by  the  special  Act  of  1828  referred  to, 
they  soon  discovered  that  the  Government,  while  effectually 
closing  and  barring  up  the  big  door  by  which  foreign  lead  could 
be  imported,  had  inadvertently  left  wide  open  a  smaller  door 
beside  it,  inasmuch  as  while  Congress  had  prescribed  a  duty  of 
three  cents  per  pound  on  lead  imported  in  pigs  and  bars,  they 
left  a  prior  duty  of  fifteen  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  the  import  of 
old  lead  fit  only  to  be  remanufactured,  uurepealed  and  in  force. 
Those  were  the  days  of  packet  ships  and  slow  communication 
with  the  Old  World  ;  but  we  may  readily  believe  that  no  time 
was  unnecessarily  wasted  by  those  interested  in  this  discovery  ; 
and  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  afterwards  agents  of 
nearly  every  important  American  house  engaged  in  the  importa- 
tion of  metals — Barclay  &  Livingston,  Boorman,  Johnson  &  Co., 
Hoffman,  Bend  &  Co.,  Phelps  &  Peck,  William  Wright  &  Co., 
and  many  lesser  firms — were  ransacking  the  markets  of  Europe 
for  the  purchase  and  shipment  to  the  United  States  of  old  lead. 
Of  course,  the  legitimate  market  supplies,  never  great,  of  this 


peculiar  article  soon  gave  out,  but  the  agents  and  correspond- 
ents of  the  American  houses  being  Yankees,  proved  fully  equal 
to  the  emergency,  and  a  scheme  was  forthwith  devised  to  replen- 
ish the  stock  by  exchanging  new  lead  for  old,  and  contracts 
in  more  than  one  instance,  for  example,  were  actually  entered 
into  and  carried  out  for  stripping  from  extensive  factories  in 
different  parts  of  England  their  old  lead  roofing — lead  being 
then  used  more  extensively  than  now  in  the  place  of  slate — and 
replacing  it  without  expense  to  the  owners  with  new  roofing  on 
condition  of  receiving  the  old  material. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  old  lead  thus  collected  began  to 
make  its  appearance  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  arriving 
in  large  quantities — almost  by  the  ship  load — at  the  ports  of 
New  York  and  Boston,  naturally  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
custom  house  authorities,  who  at  first  demurred  to  its  entry  at 
the  low  duty  of  15  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  The  matter,  however, 
being  referred  to  the  Treasury  Department  at  Washington,  an 
answer  soon  came  back  that  the  position  of  the  merchants  was 
unimpeachable,  but  the  Department  would  have  the  law 
amended  as  soon  as  possible. 

But  the  merchants  by  this  time,  in  studying  up  the  fiscal 
legislation  of  Congress  in  respect  to  lead  in  pigs  and  old  lead, 
had  made  another  discovery— and  that  was  that  the  tariff  Act 
in  force  was  mandatory  to  this  further  effect,  namely,  that  if 
any  person  or  persons  should  import  musket  balls  or  leaden 
bullets  into  the  United  States  they  should  pay  to  the  custom 
authorities  a  duty  on  the  same  of  15  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  and, 
in  default  thereof,  the  goods  should  be  forfeited  and  the  impor- 
ters be  punished.  Like  good  citizens,  therefore,  the  merchants 
made  haste  to  obey  the  law,  and  their  agents  in  Europe  being 
duly  instructed,  lost  no  time  in  buying  up  all  the  musket  balls 
and  leaden  bullets  they  could  find  for  sale,  and  when  the  foreign 
markets  were  exhausted  they  had  musket  balls  of  the  regula- 
tion weight  and  calibre  largely  manufactured,  and  all  were  duly 
shipped  as  fast  as  possible  to  the  United  States.  Again  the 
custom  house  authorities  objected,  but  again  came  back  the  re- 
sponse from  Washington  that  the  law  was  explicit  in  respect  to 
the  15  per  cent,  duty,  and  that  nothing  could  be  done  in  the 
way  of  restraining  the  importation  of  leaden  bullets  in  place 
of  pig  lead  until  Congress  had  provided  further  legislation  on 
the  subject. 


But  the  tariff  Acts  in  force  from  1828  to  1832  were,  however, 
almost  as  much  a  mystery  and  a  muddle  of  perplexity  as  are 
the  Acts  under  which  the  customs  are  at  present  administered, 
and  it  was  only  after  continuous  study  and  investigation  that 
their  full  depth  of  meaning  and  of  wisdom  could  become  evi- 
dent. But  the  success  attending  the  import  of  old  lead  and 
musket  balls  had  been  so  remarkable,  and  the  preservation  and 
resuscitation  of  the  "  white  lead"  business  so  encouraging,  that 
the  merchants  were  stimulated  to  further  fiscal  investigations ; 
and  again  putting  on  their  spectacles,  they  discovered  two 
other  remarkable  provisions  of  the  then  existing  tariff  which 
heretofore  had  not  been  considered  of  much  importance.  These 
provisions  related,  the  one  to  "  leaden  weights  "  of  all  descrip- 
tions, and  the  other  to  u  sounding  leads,"  and  were  to  the  effect 
that  if  any  person  imported  any  of  these  articles  into  the 
United  States  he  should  pay  on  the  same  a  duty  of  15  per  cent. 
ad  valorem. 

It  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  relate  in  detail  the  conse- 
quence of  these  discoveries,  but  it  sufficeth  to  say  that  those 
were  the  good  old  days  when  false  standards  were  far  more  of 
an  abomination  than  they  now  are,  and  it  was  astonishing  how 
great  a  demand  all  at  once  appeared  to  have  been  created  in 
the  United  States  for  full,  fresh,  and  new  sets  of  leaden  weights 
(from  half  an  ounce  to  fifty-six  pounds  and  upwards,  but  not- 
ably of  the  heavier  denominations),  which  had  not  had  their 
accuracy  impaired  by  continuous  use  and  abrasion.  If  the 
exact  truth,  moreover,  could  now  be  known,  it  might  also  ap- 
pear that  many  persons  at  that  time  (especially  in  the  cities  of 
New  York  and  Boston)  had  somehow  become  indoctrinated  with 
the  idea  that  the  possession  of  more  u  weights  "  would  in  some 
way  increase  the  quantity  of  things  to  be  weighed — in  the  same 
way  as  the  progressive  men  of  the  present  day  have  brought 
themselves  to  believe  that  the  possession  of  more  paper  money 
will  increase  the  value  and  quantity  of  the  things  that  this  same 
money  can  buy.  Those  were  the  days,  also,  when  clocks  were 
high  and  stood  in  corners  rather  than  upon  mantels,  and  were 
moved  by  weights  rather  than  by  springs,  and  our  ancestors  of 
forty  years  ago — and  none  knew  better  than  they  that  "  tune 
is  money" — all  at  once  seemed  possessed  with  the  desire  to 
have  more  clocks,  for  the  import  of  heavy  leaden  clock  weights, 


8 

with  iron  hooks  neatly  fitted  to  one  end,  and  which  prima 
facie  could  be  only  used  for  the  manufacture  of  clocks,  all  at 
once  increased  and  rapidly  became  a  business  of  magnitude. 

Navigators  also  about  this  time,  it  might  be  inferred,  became 
more  intelligent;  or,  if  not  more  intelligent,  then,  through  a 
desire  to  save  their  insurance  premiums,  more  cautious ;  or,  if 
not  these,  then  the  desire  of  American  geographical  students  to 
study  more  accurately  the  sea  bottom,  might  have  been  abnor- 
mally stimulated ;  for  in  what  other  way  could  an  excessive 
and  unusual  import  of  deep  sea  sounding  leads  be  accounted 
for  ? — leads  small,  leads  large,  leads  of  two  ounces  weight,  leads 
of  seventy  pounds  weight,  leads  a  few  inches  in  length  up  to 
leads  two  feet  in  length — all  with  an  eyelet  at  one  end  for  the 
sounding  line  attachment  and  a  cavity  at  the  other  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  tallow,  by  the  agency  of  which  specimens  were 
to  be  brought  up  from  the  sea  bottom. 

But  the  custom  house  authorities  were  practical  men.  They 
indulged  in  no  philosophical  reflections  as  to  any  abstract 
possible  uses  of  the  imported  articles  in  question.  They  saw 
hi  all  of  them  lead  and  lead  only — and  on  lead,  in  the  interests 
of  the  Galena  mines  and  of  the  revenue,  they  wanted  a  duty  of 
three  cents  per  pound.  They  accordingly,  as  opportunity 
offered,  seized  and  refused  to  deliver  the  exceptionally  large 
invoices  of  "  clock  weights  "  "  scale  weights"  and  "  sounding- 
leads,"  and  the  appeal,  as  usual,  from  their  proceedings  went  up 
from  the  merchants  to  Washington.  But  if  the  custom  house 
officials  were  practical  men,  the  Treasury  magnates  at  the 
capital,  on  the  other  hand,  were  strict  coustructiouists,  and  as 
they  found  the  statute  written  so  they  interpreted  it ;  and  in  all 
cases  the  arrested  importations  of  the  merchants  were,  after  a 
little  delay,  restored  and  admitted  to  entry  ;  and  in  at  least  one 
case,  where  three  cents  per  pound  had  been  paid  under  protest 
on  the  above  mentioned  leaden  articles,  the  difference  between 
that  sum  and  fifteen  per  cent,  was  returned  to  the  merchant  by 
the  Treasury.  In  fact,  as  "  sea  stores  "  of  all  descriptions  were 
then  on  the  free  list, "  sounding  leads  "  might  have  been  claimed 
to  be  exempt  from  all  imposts ;  but  the  merchants  were 
generous,  and  this  question  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
raised. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied,  nevertheless,  that  by  this  time  lead 


had  got  to  be  a  very  irritating  topic  to  a  Federal  official ;  and 
indeed  it  was  only  necessary  to  say  "  lead  "  to  a  United  States 
district  attorney,  a  collector  or  revenue  inspector,  to  seriously 
disturb  his  mental  equanimity.  An  opportunity  to  retaliate 
upon  their  mercantile  tormentors  was  therefore  earnestly  sought 
for,  and  before  long  such  an  opportunity  seemed  to  present 
itself.  A  prominent  New  York  house  in  the  metal  trade,  which, 
in  connection  with  some  half  dozen  or  more  leading  firms,  had 
been  engaged  in  importing  old  lead,  musket  bullets,  sounding 
leads,  clock  weights,  and  the  like,  and  passing  them,  under 
a  strict  but  legal  construction  of  the  statute,  at  fifteen  per  cent. 
ad  valorem,  imported  on  one  occasion,  during  the  period  under 
consideration  but  subsequent  to  the  events  narrated,  an  invoice 
of  stereotype  metal.  Now,  stereotype  metal  was  then  on  the 
free  list  of  the  tariff,  and  subject  to  no  duty,  and  in  this  parti- 
cular instance  the  importation  had  been  made  in  consequence 
of  a  direct  order  received  from  one  of  the  largest  type  founders 
in  New  York  ;  but  as  it  came  in  pigs  or  bars,  was  in  unusual 
quantity,  and  consisted  merely  of  lead  mixed  with  coin 
paratively  small  proportions  of  antimony  and  bismuth,  the 
custom  house  officials  conceived  the  idea  that  it  was  only  a  new 
device  of  the  enemy  to  take  advantage  of  the  faulty  statute,  and 
that  the  ultimate  intent  was  to  remelt  the  stereotype  metal, 
separate  its  several  constituents,  and  then  dispose  of  the  lead 
independently.  The  whole  invoice  was  accordingly  seized,  and 
suit  commenced  in  the  United  States  District  Court  for  its  for- 
feiture, the  Government  having  previously  ascertained,  by  means 
of  an  analysis  of  a  sample  bar,  made  at  their  request  by  the 
then  famous  New  York  chemist,  old  Dr.  Chilton,  that  the  metal 
contained  somewhat  more  than  eighty  per  cent,  of  lead.  The 
District  Attorney  at  that  time  was  Price,  afterwards  best 
known  for  some  financial  irregularities.  The  merchants,  of 
course,  resisted,  and  on  the  day  of  trial  appeared  in  court  with 
the  type  founder  on  whose  account  the  metal  was  ordered,  and 
other  experts,  to  prove  that  the  import  and  prospective  use  of 
the  metal  were  entirely  legitimate.  The  Government  opened 
their  case  by  stating  their  assumption  that  the  metal  was  not 
imported  for  the  manufacture  of  stereotypes  but  for  the  pur 
pose  of  defrauding  the  revenue,  and,  calling  as  their  first  wit- 
ness Dr.  Chilton,  examined  him  somewhat  as  follows : 

'       2 


10 

District  Attorney — What  is  your  profession  ?  Dr.  Chilton — 
A  chemist. 

Q.  Where  were  you  educated  ?  A.  In  Edinburgh,  and  have 
followed  for  many  years  my  profession  in  New  York. 

Q.  Have  you  made  an  analysis  of  this  imported  metal  [at 
the  same  time  referring  to  one  of  the  bars  included  in  the  in- 
voice] ?  A.  I  have. 

Q.  Of  what  does  it  consist?  A.  Of  some  80  per  cent,  of 
lead ;  the  remainder,  antimony,  bismuth  and  tin. 

Q.  Is  it  possible  to  separate  these  several  constituents,  as 
thus  mixed,  so  as  to  use  and  sell  them  separately  ?  A.  Per- 
fectly so. 

Q.  Please  tell  the  Court  what,  in  your  opinion,  would  be  about 
the  expense  of  the  operation.  A.  Rather  more  than  all  the 
materials  are  worth. 

There  was  silence  for  a  few  moments.  The  District  Attorney 
did  not  seem  to  be  possessed  of  a  further  inquiring  spirit.  It 
was  a  warm  summer's  day,  and  the  Judge  (Betts),  after  mop- 
ping his  face  with  his  handkerchief,  stretched  his  head  forward, 
and,  somewhat  brusquely,  asked  if  Mr.  Price  had  any  rebutting 
testimony,  and,  on  receiving  a  negative  reply,  fell  back  in  his 
chair  with  the  remark,  "  Then  the  case  had  better  be  dis- 
missed." And  dismissed  it  was. 

But  the  troubles  of  the  custom  house  officials  were  not  yet 
ended ;  and  here  comes  in  that  portion  of  this  curious  series 
of  events  which  is  best  known  to  the  public,  is  the  most  comi- 
cal, and  which,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  is  often  referred 
to  in  Congressional  debates,  when  topics  of  the  tariff,  smug- 
ging, or  under  valuations  are  under  consideration. 

The  wicked  merchants,  encouraged  by  their  complete  success 
as  law  interpreters,  had  continued  their  tariff  investigations, 
and  had  further  found  among  its  provisions  in  force  one  to  the 
effect  that  "  metal  statuary  and  busts  "  might  be  imported  free 
of  duty.  It  was  thereupon  immediately  determined  by  the  mer 
chants  that  if  the  American  people  desired  to  cultivate  their 
taste,  or  keep  alive  the  memory  of  the  good  and  great  of  former 
days  by  adorning  their  houses  and  grounds  with  metal  statuary, 
they  ought  to  have  the  opportunity  of  so  doing ;  and,  accord- 
ingly, large  orders  were  sent  to  Europe — at  that  time  the  exclu- 
sive seat  of  high  art — for  the  manufacture  of  busts — mainly 


11 

colossal — of  Washington,  Lafayette,  Napoleon,  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  and  not  forgetting,  also,  duplicates  or  reproductions 
of  the  great  works  of  antiquity  j  and  as  lead,  of  all  the  metals, 
seemed  to  possess  in  the  highest  degree  the  qualities  of  dura- 
bility, tenacity,  cheapness,  and  facility  of  being  moulded,  the 
statuary  in  question  was  directed  to  be  made  of  lead.  It  should 
also  be  remarked  in  this  connection  that  lead  statuary  fifty 
years  ago  was  not  the  abnormal  exceptional  thing  it  now  is. 
In  fact  it  was  then  the  common  material  for  cheap  imagery 
throughout  Europe,  when  something  less  expensive  than 
bronze  or  marble  was  desired,  and  filled  the  place  which  is  now 
supplied  by  cast  iron  and  zinc,  but  which  materials  fifty  years 
ago  were  not  thought  susceptible  of  ornamental  adaptation. 
And  that  the  lead  statuary  in  question  was  really  ornamental  is 
proved  by  the  circumstance  that  some  of  it  thus  imported  is 
yet  in  use  for  ornamental  purposes,  one  piece  embellishing  at 
the  present  time  the  garden  of  an  eminent  banker  on  Fifth 
avenue.  From  such  an  aesthetic  point  of  view,  also,  did  the 
prosaic  custom  house  officers  regard  the  first  importations  of 
these  leaden  images,  and  so  might  they  long  have  continued 
to  regard  them,  had  the  persons  in  Europe  intrusted  with  their 
shipment  been  more  careful  in  respect  to  packing.  But  when 
Washington  came  up  out  of  the  hold  of  the  vessel  after  a  rough 
voyage  with  his  nose  punched  in,  and  Napoleon  with  his  eyes 
sufficiently  askew  to  require  an  operation  for  strabismus,  and 
Moses  looking  very  much  like  a  subject  on  whom  the  law 
ought  to  be  administered  rather  than  an  author  and  admin- 
istrator of  the  law,  suspicion  was  naturally  excited,  and  forth- 
with the  statuary  was  seized  and  held  for  forfeiture  by  the 
customs  authorities.  In  answer,  the  importers,  as  before, 
pointed  to  the  clear  and  explicit  provision  of  the  tariff  then  in 
force — "  Metal  statuary  and  busts  free" — and  urged  the  Govern- 
ment, if  they  doubted,  to  institute  a  suit.  But  Mr.  Price,  the 
district  attorney,  had  once  burned  his  fingers  with  cold  lead, 
and  persistently  refused  to  bring  the  matter  into  court.  There- 
upon one  of  New  York's  then  best  known  merchants  and  publi- 
cists, who  still  flourishes  in  a  serene  old  age,  caused  an  invoice 
of  the  questionable  statuary  to  be  imported  into  Boston,  and 
arranged  with  the  district  attorney  of  that  port  to  try  the 
issue  in  respect  to  its  dutiable  character.  When  the  trial  came 


12 

on  Daniel  Webster  appeared  as  counsel  for  the  defence.  His 
speech  in  answer  to  Government  was  very  brief  but  to  the 
point,  claiming  the  law  provided  for  the  admission  of  metal 
statuary,  busts,  etc.,  free,  with  no  limit  as  to  the  kind  or  quantity, 
and  that  the  imports  in  question  were  metal  statuary,  though 
made  of  lead.  When  the  case  closed  Mr.  Webster  requested 
the  Judge  to  charge  the  jury  that  they  were  to  decide  whether 
the  articles  were  metal  statuary,  and  if  they  found  that  they 
were,  they  must  bring  in  a  verdict  for  the  defendants.  The 
Judge  substantially  did  as  requested,  and  the  jury,  in  a  few 
minutes  after  retiring,  returned  with  a  verdict  for  Mr.  Leavitt. 

The  decision  in  this  case  practically  put  an  end  to  the  whole 
controversy.  The  lead  statuary  under  seizure  was  released, 
the  import  was  allowed  to  go  on  unrestricted,  and,  as  soon  as 
circumstances  permitted,  Congress  amended  the  tariff  by 
equalizing  the  duties  on  all  forms  of  lead,  and  at  the  same  time 
satisfied  the  white  lead  manufacturing  interest  by  fully  pro 
tecting  their  products  from  foreign  competition. 

As  this  curious  story  has  been  heretofore  told,  the  importa- 
tion of  the  leaden  statuary  has  been  popularly  attributed  to 
the  agency  of  the  well  known  I^ew  York  firm  of  Phelps,  Dodge 
&  Co.  This  is,  however,  an  error.  The  firm  of  Phelps,  Dodge 
&  Co.  was  not  at  the  time  of  the  occurrence  of  these  events  in 
existence ;  and  the  old  firm  that  preceded  them — namely,  that 
of  Phelps  &  Peck — although  large  importers  of  metals,  were 
not  concerned  in  this  matter  of  the  leaden  images. 

It  would  be  a  mistake,  furthermore,  to  infer  that  like  mud- 
dles and  perplexities  cease  to  characterize  the  tariff  when  Con- 
gress, taught  by  experience,  successively  remedied  the  omissions 
and  commissions  of  the  Act  of  1828.  On  the  contrary,  there  has 
been  hardly  a  tariff  enacted  since  that  time  which  has  not  the 
absurdities  of  the  old  lead,  the  musket  balls,  the  clock  weights, 
the  deep-sea  leads,  and  the  leaden  images  in  some  form  re- 
peated. Thus,  for  example,  in  the  tariff  of  1846  a  duty  was  im- 
posed on  flaxseed  of  twenty  per  cent.,  but  in  the  tariff  of  1857 
linseed  was  made  free  while  flaxseed  was  charged  fifteen  per 
cent.  duty.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the  import  of  lin- 
seed was  always  large,  but  that  of  flaxseed  very  small. 

Again,  in  1864,  the  manufacturers  of  spool  thread,  anxious  to 
shield  themselves  against  all  foreign  competition,  obtained  a 


13 

prohibitory  duty  on  the  import  of  unwound  cotton  thread  or 
yarn.  When  the  law  went  into  effect  it  was  found  that  the  re- 
sult of  the  new  duty  would  be  the  destruction  of  the  manufac- 
ture of  fine  elastic  fabrics,  suspenders,  gaiters,  etc.,  as  well  as 
of  certain  worsted  fabrics,  which  were  dependent  on  Europe  for 
certain  qualities  of  warp  yarns  not  then  manufactured  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  The  difficulty  was,  however,  got  over  by 
an  absurd  Treasury  ruling,  that  cotton  warp  or  yarn  intended 
for  use  in  the  manufacture  of  elastic  worsted  or  woollen  fabrics 
was  not  unwound  thread  or  yarn,  but  a  manufacture  of  cotton 
"  not  otherwise  provided  for." 

And,  coming  down  still  later,  Congress,  in  1872,  enacted  a 
general  reduction  of  ten  per  cent,  in  tariff  rates  on  metals  and 
manufacture  of  metals — watches  and  jewelry  excepted.  It 
clear,  however,  that  "  watch  cases "  are  not  "  watches,"  and 
neither  are  springs,  escapements,  wheels,  etc.,  etc.,  considered 
separately.  The  course  of  trade,  therefore,  in  respect  to  im- 
ported watches,  soon  adjusted  itself  as  follows:  The  movements 
taken  out  of  the  cases,  packed  in  separate  cartons,  but  care- 
fully numbered,  are,  when  thus  imported,  clearly  manufactures 
of  metals,  and  as  such  entitled  to  the  rebate  of  ten  per  cent.  In 
like  manner  the  cases,  without  the  essentials  of  a  watch  in 
them,  are  nothing  but  manufactures  of  metal  (gold  and  silver), 
and  must  be  also  thus  treated  in  respect  of  duty.  Watches,  of 
course,  when  they  come  in  as  watches,  pay  full  duty ! ! ! 

Thus  the  old,  old  story  of  the  effect  of  impolitic  and  absurd 
restrictions  on  trade  and  commerce,  the  lesson  of  which  Europe 
through  centuries  of  experience  learned  and  profited  by,  con 
tinues  to  repeat  itself  in  the  fiscal  policy  of  the  United  States. 
Let  us  hope  that  the  result  here,  too,  at  no  distant  day  will  be 
what  it  has  been  elsewhere,  namely,  to  force  men  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  best  system  of  taxation  is  to  tax  but  a  few 
things,  and  then  leave  those  taxes  to  diffuse,  and  adjust,  and 
apportion  themselves  by  the  inflexible  laws  of  trade  and  political 
economy — and,  furthermore,  to  recognize  that  no  system  of 
government  has  any  just  claim  to  the  title  of  free  which 
arbitrarily  takes  from  its  citizens  any  portion  of  their  property 
except  to  defray  the  State's  necessary  expenditures, 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
University  of  California,  San  Diego 

DATE  DUE 


MAR  2,6^5 


C/39 


UCSD  Libr. 


